Jackfruit Recipes

JackFruit Recipes

Have you heard of about Jackfruit? Are you looking for Jackfruit recipes? Jackfruit is a super-food from the Southwestern rain forests of India and the tropical regions of Indian subcontinent, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brazil. Jackfruit is not only highly nutritious with many health benefits it also has unique properties that when prepared properly makes an amazing barbeque ‘pulled pork’ dish.

The first time I ever had pulled pork was long before I became vegetarian and we were traveling to Mexico and had a stop over in Memphis. This is the first time we had ever been in the Southern part of the United States and we always heard how amazing the food was. Since we had a few hours we decided to try a restaurant in the airport. We ordered a BBQ pulled pork sandwich on garlic toast. It was absolutely amazing! The BBQ sauce was something to die for! The pork was stringy and barbeque sauce clung to every strand. After that day I began making a pulled pork dish at home and honed my BBQ sauce making skills.

I haven’t had pulled pork since I became vegetarian 10 years ago and although I don’t miss the pork I do miss the Barbeque sauce. When I first came by the idea of Jackfruit as a form of meat substitute I was skeptical that anything so fruity and sweet could ever have the texture or appearance and taste of pulled pork.

I know all the recipes out there say to buy canned Jackfruit in water or brine, but being the naturalist I am, when I saw fresh Jackfruit at the market I decided to give it a try. (There is a reason you buy it canned) I proceeded to pull the fruity pods apart and separate out the stringy membranes and then I threw the seeds out (don’t throw the seeds out their actually edible and quite good if you boil them) I sauteed some onions and garlic and threw in the sweet, yellow juicy pods. I was quite disappointed when it didn’t breakup or become stringy like pork. I was confused and sad. I mixed in the barbeque sauce and simmered it for 20 minutes. I tried to pull it apart but still not very stringy with a strong fruity aroma. I persevered and piled it on some gluten free french bread and served it to my family. Everyone ate it very slowly and smiled because they knew how hard I worked. Something was really off. The texture was similar to slugs or raw oysters and impossible to chew.

I decided to buy the canned Jackfruit and see if there is a difference.

You want to look for Young Green Jackfruit in Brine or water. The young unripe Jackfruit is completely different then the ripe fruit.

Drain and rinse the Jackfruit pieces well. You can see right away how different the canned Jackfruit is. The flesh of the fruit is quite pale and slightly pinkish and its firm but still flaky.

Trim off the hard core of the pieces.

At this point I’m thinking the Jackfruit resemble Tuna. The color and texture is very similar to canned tuna.

I first coated the pieces with a spicy rub and let sit a bit while I sauteed some onions and garlic.

Then I added the Jackfruit and the barbecue sauce.

Let this simmer for 20 minutes. As it simmers you will see that the Jackfruit starts to shred like pulled pork.

After 20 minutes I transferred everything to a parchment lined baking pan and cooked in the oven at 400 degrees for an additional 20 minutes.

Add Jackfruit to the skillet and saute an additional 5 minutes then add the BBQ sauce. Cover and let simmer for 20 minutes or until tender and easily shred apart. Remove cover and simmer 5- 10 minutes until sauce is reduced.

Transfer contents of skillet to a parchment lined baking pan being sure to spread it evenly. Bake in oven 20 minutes.

5 Responses to Jackfruit Recipes

That’s amazing! Who would have thought a FRUIT could be a good stand-in for meat? I’ve never had pulled pork in my meat-eating days, only really heard of it recently seeing it advertised in shop windows. It sounds horrible! I imagine a pig having its legs pulled off or something:s

This recipe, on the other hand, sounds delightful. I’ll have to go to the specialist food shop and scour the aisles for jackfruit… I’ve never seen it before, but on the other hand, I haven’t looked:p

How fascinating – I would never have imagined jackfruit could be a meat substitute either! Though I’ve never actually eaten pulled pork, I love barbeque flavours and this texture looks quite interesting. Will be keeping an eye open for tinned jackfruit now